Coping with an Emotional Public: A Study of Emotional Governance in the City of Amsterdam

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‘Coping with an Emotional Public’

A Study of Emotional Governance in the City of Amsterdam

Master’s Thesis

Khadejah Al Harbi

11263199

10th July 2020

MSc Conflict Resolution and Governance

University of Amsterdam

Graduate School of Social Sciences

Dr. David M. Laws

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. David Laws, who not only

provided me with valuable insights and ideas for conducting this research, but who cultivated an

environment of support and positivity during a particularly difficult time of conducting research,

due to Covid-19. This thesis would not have been achieved without his thoughtful guidance. In

addition, David inspired me to think creatively, work flexibly and ultimately, to persevere with

my research regardless of the obstacles.

In addition, I would like to express my gratitude to all of the local government practitioners who

took time away from their work during a particularly chaotic time to contribute to this study. My

conversations with practitioners were insightful and enjoyable and their words ultimately shaped

this research. Without the contribution of these practitioners, I would have not have been able to

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Abstract

The way in which we understand public administration is in transition. This study aimed to

explore the ways in which public officials working for the City of Amsterdam make sense of

emotional encounters with members of the public, and consequently, the ways in which they

manage the emotions raised through their work. This thesis looks at practitioners working at

three different levels of governance, including politicians, policy makers and front line

practitioners. Employing an interpretive methodological approach, the present study explored the

narratives of public officials regarding particularly emotional encounters with members of the

public, revealing how practitioners made sense of these, and consequently how they responded.

In order to deal with the complexity of the interactions, practitioners communicated concrete,

generalised and reflective narratives, which were consequently analysed in order to discern the

various frames they adopt. The analysis revealed three overarching frames practitioners employ

to make sense of the emotions raised in their work, including: “The System”, “The Professional”

and “The Powerful”. Ultimately, what emerged out of the analysis of practitioners' stories was

that the frames they employ not only serve to identify problems but to give definitions to

relationships, and signal action. Emotions are seen as a crucial element of relationships, in this

case, between public officials and the public. By placing emphasis on the ways in which

emotions are raised through interactions in this thesis, it emerged that emotions develop within

relationships and that the ways in which emotions develop largely depend on what people do

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The way in which we understand public administration is in flux, evolving from a traditional top-down conceptualization of public service delivery towards an understanding of governance as collaborative, with a broad outreach towards citizens and engagement with society as a whole (Guy et al., 2019:1). In the Netherlands, citizens’ first point of contact with the authorities is at the municipal level of government. This is where they go to register as a citizen, to request official documents and to gain access to crucial services such as waste collection or public transportation. In fact, local governments are the closest level of government to the people, where the distance between public officials and citizens tends to be most narrow (Guy et al., 2019:202). Given this proximity, how citizens come to understand their local government is, at least in part, through their encounters with bureaucracies and bureaucrats. Indeed, through citizens’ tangible experiences and concrete interactions with public officials, local government “ceases to be an elusive abstraction, and takes concrete form before us” (Zacka, 2017: 240). Thus, public officials function as crucial mediating agents in encounters between citizens and government. In other words, public policy, and governments as a whole, are best understood in the daily encounters between officials and citizens (Lipsky, 1980).

1.2 What Do Emotions Have To Do With This?

It has been established that public interest is strongly affected by the emotions of public administration personnel rather than by facts and data, even in instances when the latter are readily available (Vigoda-Gadot and Meisler, 2010:73). The ways in which the public come to know their government, as well as the ways public officials experience this public, have been well established (see Lipsky, 1980). However, the emotional resonance of these encounters, which embody highly formative “ways of knowing about the state” (Guy et al., 2019: 3) is a crucial, yet under examined element of the relationship between the government and the governed. Examining the ways in which emotions enter into relationships between citizens and

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local government is significant for a number of reasons, not least in further contributing to an understanding of the dilemmas of individuals in public services, but for democratic governance more broadly. Given the proximity of local government to citizens and the frequency in which the two come into contact through public service delivery, this necessitates a deeper understanding of the ways public officials as ‘mediating agents’ establish rapport and trust with the citizens that rely on their service. Just as citizens come to know local government through tangible experiences, public officials’ understanding of their relationship towards the public organization, society and individuals they serve is similarly shaped through these tangible encounters. Yet despite the significance of affective encounters between public officials and citizens for the both groups, the role that emotions play in local governance has nevertheless received marginal attention.

1.3 Problem Description

What is notably missing from approaches examining the relationship between citizens and public officials is an emphasis on the _{personal demands of public occupations as they are translate} through their work, whereby “officials must sense the emotive state of the citizen, analyze what the desired state should be in order to have a successful encounter, determine what actions to take in order to achieve the desired state, and then modify their own behavior in order to achieve this” (Guy et al., 2019: 10). This process, which has come to be referred to as ‘emotional labour’ (Hochschild, 1983), that is, work that requires public employees to be emotionally engaged with citizens, is an emerging issue on the performance front of service delivery (Jin and Guy, 2009). However, while considerable attention has been paid to emotional labour in service oriented sectors and occupations (see Hochschild, 1983), less has been given to examinations of public administration. This is curious, given that as mentioned above, citizens’ first contact with the state is through local government, and public officials and citizens frequently come into close contact with one another. In addition, this process of sensing, analysing and modifying emotive states significantly impacts the ways public officials carry out their role, which necessitates cultivating a balance between organisational demands against the needs of citizens. In other

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words, public officials must uphold organisational expectations, but simultaneously, meet the expectations of citizens, whereby the outcome is “molded by the successful performance of the official” (Guy et. al, 10). Thus, while scholars have extensively examined the dilemmas of individuals in public institutions (see Lipsky, 1980 and Zacka, 2017), processes of emotional labour (see Hoschchild, 1983) and the role of emotions in public governance (Guy et al., 2019) this thesis aims to bring together these approaches, by examining the emotional dilemmas of public officials as they cross organisation boundaries and engage with citizens. Indeed, local government practitioners must span boundaries within large organisations such as local government, as well as between the organisation and the world of the citizen in service delivery. As mediators between state and society, they have a foot in two worlds that are often out of tune with one another” (Zacka, 2017:24), and consequently, their work becomes characterised by this tension. They must give “content to hierarchical directives that are often vague, ambiguous, and conflicting” as well as “be efficient in the use of public resources, fair in dealing with clients, responsive toward their needs, and respectful when interacting with them” (Zacka, 2017:11) It is this tension that this thesis aims to address.

Therefore, this study aims to fill a research gap by conducting a qualitative analysis of how public officials occupying various positions within the City of Amsterdam’s local government make sense of emotional encounters with members of the public and accordingly, how they respond. More specifically, it examines the role that emotions play in initiating interactions between citizens and public officials, the ways in which public officials ‘frame’ these encounters and consequently, the emotional scripts and strategies they adopt to respond to them. By emphasising the ways public officials frame emotional exchanges with the public, this thesis offers insights not only into the organisational structures local government practitioners must navigate, but the ways in which they cultivate and perform their professional identity, as well as the way relationships are developed with citizens. This study does not explore the effect of emotional labour in areas typically examined, such as job satisfaction or burnout, but rather uses emotional labour as a lens through which to explore the various dilemmas and strategies local government practitioners experience and utilise respectively while interacting with the public,

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and the ways in which they make sense of their interactions through various framing and feeling rules, captured by practitioners’ narratives.

This thesis broadly presents a story of the role of individuals in public life, and much of what this thesis discusses concerns the relationship between governmental institutions, practitioners and the public. This is not a story of success or failure however, but an illustration of how practitioners make sense of the role emotion plays in their work with the public. In this thesis, the public refers to the public of a polity (Warner, 2002:49), meaning those people who the local government of Amsterdam govern. In addition, the public described in this thesis frequently come into contact with local government over particular issues, whereby something is at stake in their interaction, ranging from obtaining and maintaining their social welfare, to building green spaces in their local community, to improving mobility in a chaotic and constantly evolving city. In addition, as this thesis will show, the kinds of issues raised through interactions between citizens and officials also reveal something broader at stake for participants, including ideas about professionalism, citizenship, identity, and values such as inclusivity, safety and fairness to name a few. Consequently, this thesis hopes to put forward a narrative which not only reveals the dilemmas and opportunities of practitioners in public engagement, but contribute to a greater understanding of the role emotion plays in local governance processes more broadly. This thesis also hopes to provide a practical opportunity for local government practitioners to reflect on the findings, and potentially contribute to an awareness of the importance of emotions in facilitating and improving interactions between institutions and individuals in the City of Amsterdam.

1.4 Research Question

This thesis presents an empirical and theoretical investigation of the role of emotions in public officials’ interactions with the public. Consequently, the research question this thesis aims to address is: _{‘How do public officials working for the City of Amsterdam cope with emotions} raised in their interactions with the public?’. _{I specify this in terms of the following sensitivising} questions.

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2. How do they manage the emotions raised by their work?

The first question regards the sense making processes of public officials working in bureaucratic contexts as they cross organisation boundaries and come into contact with emotional members of the public over a range of contentious issues. The second part of the question refers to the ways in which these practitioners respond or manage these encounters based on their sensemaking processes.

1.5 Chapter Overview

In the following chapter, a literature review will be conducted, tracing a number of theoretical developments relevant in this study in order to generate a theoretical framework which will consequently inform the research design. Following on from the theoretical framework, the research design methodological approach adopted will be elucidated, outlining the ways in which the study was set up, and the ways in which data was collected and analysed, as well as offering a number of reflections on the chosen approach. Subsequently, the fieldwork findings will be presented and explored in the analysis section, which uses the stories of practitioners to ground the analysis in empirical data. The analysis will be broken up into three sub-chapters, each corresponding and expanding on three overarching ‘frames’ practitioners employ to make sense of their interactions. An analysis will be presented which links the theoretical framework with the empirical data in a manner which showcases the framing processes and discursive practice of public officials. Finally, a conclusion will be given to summarise the key takeaways, outline limitations and address the implications of the findings for local government practitioners and city governance as a whole.

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2. Relating Conflict, Bureaucracy and Emotion in Theory

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in investigating the role emotions play in “causing, moderating or mediating events and interactions” within public organizations (Kupers and Weibler, 2008:257). In part, this proliferation of sociological and organisational theories has emerged from an increasingly critical examination of concepts such as rationality, bureaucracy, and emotion control (Fineman and Sturdy, 1999:634). The aim of this chapter is to review existing research and theories related to the role of emotions in public governance more generally, while simultaneously developing a suitable theoretical framework which will consequently be used to structure and interpret the empirical research. This will allow for a theoretically informed yet empirically grounded analysis which emphasises the significance of the individual within public services, as well as illuminating the broader implications for the public organisation and society as a whole. In order to address the research question this thesis poses, it is first necessary to review the relevant theoretical developments and cultivate an understanding of their corresponding concepts, as these are far from unambiguous. Although an extensive review of organisational and sociological theories of emotion is beyond the scope of this thesis, it is necessary to highlight the most relevant developments for this study, of which three will be given particular attention. The development is a reconsideration of the Weberian ‘ideal type’ of bureaucracy, which simultaneously reconceives ideas of professionalism previously articulated on this basis. The second theoretical development is the critical approach scholars have adopted in examining the psychological costs of managing emotions in organisations (see _{Hochschild, 1983). The third development emphasises the individual within} public services (see Lipsky 1980), and the integration of structure and agency (see Giddens, 1974). Finally, attention will be given to ‘frames’ as an organizing concept for this research. Together, insights from these three developments will be taken forward into the methodological approach and form the basis of the analysis. Consequently, in the following chapters, a theoretically informed research design and methodology will be outlined, and an analysis will be conducted in order to capture the various frames, also known as “schema of interpretation”

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(Goffman, 1974), practitioners employ in making sense of emotionally charged interactions with the public, and the quality of the discourse regarding emotions in practitioner’s accounts. This chapter therefore provides a springboard through which the research question can be thoroughly examined.

2.1 A Reconsideration of Weber

This sub-chapter will be dedicated to defining concepts such as bureaucracy, professionalism and emotions, which will be achieved through an exploration of the first theoretical development - a critical reconsideration of Weber’s ‘ideal type’ of bureaucracy. Given that this research, as well as the practice of the public officials studied is embedded within a bureaucratic organisational context, it is first necessary to clarify what is meant by the term ‘bureaucracy’. It is widely accepted, or at the very least acknowledged, that the term bureaucracy conjures up mental images of both real and perceived incompetence, opacity and rigidity (Graham 2002:199). Studies on bureaucratic organisations and decision making processes have traditionally been approached from the Weberian ‘ideal-type’ of formal bureaucratic rationality (Weber 1978:975). According to this logic, outcomes in bureaucratic organisations are secured through technical efficiency, legal formalism and rational objectivity. More specifically, the bureaucratic organizational form has four distinctive characteristics, including a reliance on formal rules, functional specialisations, hierarchy and professionalism (Gittell and Douglass 2012, 712). While each of these serve to improve the efficiency of the organisation, they can also contribute to an interference of the relationship between workers and clients in a number of ways. For example, hierarchy offers the possibility of exercising unified control in order to achieve organisational goals (Gittell and Douglass 2012, 713). This rationale becomes problematic however, when practitioners must span boundaries and increasingly work not only vertically and horizontally across their organisation, but also interact with members of the public who are embedded in a different social context. In fact, as well as a cross-organisational endeavour, boundary spanning can be conceived as a citizen-focussed activity, as public servants are increasingly expected to work with citizens in ways that cut across vertical service demarcation

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(Needham, 2017:288) This spanning is significant for public officials affect, particularly in encounters which may transgress professional norms and roles (Needham, 2017:289). In recent organisation literature, organisational boundaries are increasingly being treated as fluid and porous (Glimmerveen 2019:2). While this has undermined the perception of bureaucratic boundaries as entirely static conceptions, prompting a re-examination of the ‘stable’ relationships between individuals, groups and organisations, an overemphasis on fluidity also risks a conceptualisation of boundaries as insignificant to organisation principles. Thus, organisational boundaries are conceived here as both rigid and fluid, rather than in terms of a binary of permeable and impermeable. This approach emphasises that such boundaries may be negotiated, but maintain their character as an “essential medium through which people acquire status and monopolize resources” (Lamont and Molnár, 2002: 169).

In addition, the term bureaucracy often symbolises a physical or social barrier between the organisation and the general public (Graham, 2002:209). Consequently, bureaucratic organisations tend to be viewed as anti-emotional or affective neutral, implying bureaucrats are guided by impersonal rules and perform their professional duties free of self interest. Essentially, this conception juxtaposes feelings and emotions with reason and rationality, implicitly elevating the role of the latter, and conflating it with ideals of professionalism. However, this traditional separation between emotional and rational has not gone without scrutiny, and has been challenged by writers who claim that the division reflects a misconception of Weber’s approach (Fineman and Sturdy, 1999:634). While much scholarly work on bureaucracies has been influenced by Weber’s conception and tends to emphasise their instrumental character (Larsson, 2014:2), it must also be acknowledged that Weber’s conceptualization was encapsulated in a broader exploration of the rational-legal administration of the modern state, and did not necessarily intend to serve as a general theory of organisations. In fact, rather than being disruptive to organisational processes, emotions have been conceived as sources of information which orient approaches to decision making, as well as employees’ relationships with their clients (Larsson, 2014:1-2) Therefore, emotions and rationality are viewed less as antithetical but as complementary (Barbalet, 2002).

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In this regard, studies on the role of emotions in organisations have also greatly contributed to the development of notions of professionalism. Although traditionally, professionalism and bureaucracy have been viewed in opposition to one another, it is important to note that conventional notions of both bureaucracy and professionalism share a number of similar features and can be conceived as dualistic forces (Gittell and Douglass 2012: 716). In fact, empirical research conducted in numerous fields has revealed that professionalism and bureaucracy may in fact be positively related (Toren, 1976). Rather than distinguishing bureaucratic and professional authority as mutually exclusive, the aforementioned hierarchical structure of bureaucracy and the technical expertise of professionalism can be viewed as interchangeable (Toren, 1976:37). Given that conventional notions of the bureaucrat's relationship with clients is often conceived as detached and objective, motivated by rational considerations rather than personal convictions (Weber 1968: 975), conventional notions of professionalism also tend to mirror the rationality of Weber’s ideal type.

The conflation of bureaucratic norms with notions of professionalism has a number of consequences for the relationship dynamics between practitioners and clients, including a potential reinforcement of emotional detachment and an exertion of professional power justified on the basis of professional expertise (Gittell and Douglass 2012: 716). Thus, notions of professionalism encapsulated within a bureaucratic context may allow for the norms associated with the latter to deter a consideration for individual circumstances (Gittell and Douglass 2012: 716). Conversely, notions of professionalism may also allow for an ability to cultivate norms which serve to support the interest of clients, as alternative theories articulate professionalism in terms of a reciprocal, collaborative and flexible relationship with clients. This variance can be attributed to the relationship between the type of organisational setting in which professionals operate, and the intensity of their professional norms (Toren, 1976: 41). Therefore, depending on the organisation settings and the degree of bureaucratization within formal structures, ideas of professionalism may differ (Toren, 1976: 41). Ultimately, the tendency to adhere to more rigid ideas of professionalism is stronger in more bureaucratic settings (Toren, 1976: 42). Thus, no act

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takes place in a vacuum, as “an appropriate act is required in response to a particular scene” (Rueckert 1982:74). This signals the significance of context in locating the essence of objects.

What is also significant to note are the ways individual practitioners utilise the concept of professionalism for their own aims. Given the often restrictive nature of policies and discourses, officials often use the concept of professionalism to describe the ways in which they make sense and consequently cope with the inherent tensions and ambiguities of working within a bureaucracy - namely, the tension between their personal convictions and the professional role they are expected to play (Swinkels and Meijl, 2018:61). Attitudes associated with ideas of professionalism for individuals in public organisations often include the use of the professional organisation as a reference point, a belief in public service and a belief in self regulation (Toren, 1976: 41). The concept of professionalism therefore “symbolizes cultural orientations, norms and values that are important in the bureaucratic organization” (Toren, 1976: 61). As mentioned, such norms and values are intimately linked with the setting and culture of the organisation itself. Practitioners therefore bridge the tension between their personal convictions and their ‘duty of office’ through notions of professionalism (Swinkels and Meijl, 2018:62). However, in reality, practitioners do not operate entirely out of objectivity and neutrality, as they also possess emotions and ideas of appropriateness (Swinkels and Meijl, 2018:62). This thesis approaches professionalism in a similar manner - emphasising both the role of organisation norms and values but staying as close as possible to notions of professionalism as articulated by public officials themselves. Rather than mechanically and uniformly applying rules, rather, government officials are socialized into a code of conduct, representative of the organisational context within which they operate (Swinkels and Meijl, 2018:62). Therefore, this thesis adopts an approach which emphasises the ways individuals “develop systems of meaning to navigate the indeterminacy of their working context” (Swinkels and Meijl, 2018:62).

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One of the most significant, yet elusive, terms employed in this research are ‘emotions’. In order to understand the role emotions play in practitioner’s accounts, it is first necessary to conceptualise what emotions mean in this study. As previously mentioned, there has been an increased interest in the role emotion plays in organizational life. Increasing recognition has been paid to the significance of emotions not only in cultivating and maintaining relationships between individuals, but between communities and organisations (Kupers and Weibler, 2008:257). As researchers are increasingly examining emotional processes and their impacts on organisation life, this demonstrates a need to approach the study of emotions more systematically, in order to develop a comprehensive understanding of organisations in the context of the ‘real world’(Kupers and Weibler, 2008:257).

Emotions can be defined as intrapersonal and interactive states, structures and processes of daily life which cannot be removed from “cognitive, symbolising and action-oriented processes”, which together organise experience (Kupers and Weibler, 2008:258). This is particularly relevant in practical deliberation and decision making. In fact, emotions not only aid in the establishment and maintenance of forms of engagement public organisations necessitate, but also by structuring interactions and positions (Laws et al., 2014). Thus, emotions are central to a range of processes including perception, cognition and interaction, but also signal the importance of certain issues, interests and beliefs (Laws et.al, 2014). Viewing emotions in this way, as a dynamic process rather than complete or finished entities, makes it particularly difficult to establish singular definition. Therefore, rather than attempting to essentialise or reduce the meaning of emotions, they are defined as “dynamic processes and communicative events that mediate body, mind, social and cultural relations” (Kupers and Weibler, 2008:258). With this interpretative definition, emotions can then come to be seen as a particular mode of communication. Thus, given both the dynamic process and communicative nature of emotions, they can also be conceived as “embodied and socio-cultural, arising in interpersonal relationships of power and interdependence” (Kupers and Weibler, 2008:258). It is this relational conceptualisation this thesis adopts, focusing on the role of emotions in the formation of relationships, meaning and identity (Kupers and Weibler, 2008:258). In addition, the dynamic nature of emotions similarly

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functions as “flexible response sequences that transform a substantive event into a motivation to respond to it in a particular manner” (Halperin and Schwartz, 2010: 246). Therefore, emotions can be viewed not only as something one possesses, but as something one acts upon or does. In this perspective, “practical action generates not only emotions but emotions themselves are practiced as a way of dealing with the world” (Collin and Grott,2018:6). Emotions are understood through cognitive appraisals, which are viewed as the “cerebral precursor to the emotion itself” (Halperin and Schwartz, 2010:246). Appraisals are the stories or narratives which individuals formulate in order to evaluate and understand an event or experience. These emotional appraisals consequently involve a level of emotional regulation, whereby individuals attempt to influence the type or amount of emotions they or others experience, including the timing and forms of emotional expression (Halperin and Schwartz, 2010:433).

2.3 A Micro Approach to Public Administration

This sub-chapter examines the second significant theoretical development for this study - a critical understanding of emotional regulation or labour. The sociological approach to emotions in administration can broadly be divided into micro and macro approaches. An exemplar of the micro approach, Hochshild’s seminal work on ‘emotional labour’, defined as the “act of trying to change in degree or quality an emotion or feeling” (Hochschild,1979:561), critiques the assumption that emotion, given its seemingly uncontrollable nature, is not governed by social rules. Building on insights from Goffman to generate a theory of emotional regulation, Hochshild argues that as well as applying to behaviour and thought, social rules also apply to the expression of emotion - linking social structures, feeling rules and emotional management (Hochschild,1979:551). In fact, through his ethnographic approach to public interaction, Goffman was one of the first scholars to address emotion as an integral part of the functioning of organisations (Fischer, 2013:286). What Goffman defines as intersubjectivity emerges through interactions, as individuals put forward a particular identity in line with what they think their conversation partner wishes to be presented with (Koprowska and Van Nijnatten, 2019:364). Goffman describes this impression management as the suppression of “spontaneous feelings in

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order to give the appearance of sticking to the affective line, the expressive status quo” (Goffman, 1959:237). Consequently, social rules function to govern the ways in which individuals attempt to feel in appropriate ways. This reveals “how profoundly the individual is ‘social,’ and ‘socialized’ to try to pay tribute to official definitions of situations, with no less than their feeling” (Hochschild, 1979:552). In Goffman’s account, social influences permeate emotion, influencing how they are elicited, expressed and labelled. By examining emotive experience relative to social patterns, the individual is seen as actively negotiating a course of action in terms of social convention (Hochschild,1979:555). It is Goffman’s interactionist and dramaturgical perspective that Hochschild builds on in her theorisation of emotional labour, whereby the client is the audience, the employee is the actor, and the work setting is the stage (Grandey 2000:96).

Managing emotions is a crucial way in which employees are able to achieve organisational goals (Grander, 2000:96), by assessing when a feeling is ‘inappropriate’ and consequently managing this (Hochschild,1979:561) In public service work, the goal is ultimately to influence the actions of the citizen so that the ends are achieved (Jin and Guy, 2009). Therefore, workers must labour to suppress emotions perceived as inappropriate or elicit appropriate emotions within oneself or another, whereby ideals of appropriateness are dictated by position and the professional context (Mastracci and Adams, 2019:3). Such labour includes an analysis and decision making in terms of the expression of emotion, as well as the suppression of emotion (Wei 2013:39). Hoschild also establishes an interpretative framework which incorporates both ‘framing’ and ‘feeling’ rules. Framing rules refer to “rules according to which we ascribe definitions or meanings to situations”, whereas feeling rules are conceived as unwritten rules that govern a workers’ affect or outward expression (Mastracci and Adams, 2019:3). In terms of emotion labour in public organisations, this emerges during interactions between public officials and citizens, and requires both an emotive sensing of the other’s state and one’s own, as well as assessing how responses will impact the citizen and the performance of the ‘role’ (Wei 2013:39). In fact, emotional labour, albeit at varying levels of intensity, plays a key role in nearly all government jobs (Wei 2013:40). It is this tension, the individual cases or conscious moments whereby a discrepancy

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exists between what an individual feels and what an individual wants to feel, compounded by ideas of what is appropriate in a particular situation, that this thesis aims to examine.

2.4 An Examination of Public Service ‘From Below’

Thus far, a reconsideration of Weber’s ideal type bureaucracy has been presented, as well as Hochschild's theory on emotional labour. In addition to these theoretical developments, an emphasis on emotions also affords opportunities to further develop a theoretical understanding of public organisations more generally. This sub-chapter examines the third theoretical development - that is, an emphasis of the individual within public services and the integration of structure and agency. As previously mentioned, emotions have long been viewed as antithetical to bureaucratic work (Leser and Dölemeyer 2017:21). In addition, as a result of Weber’s model of bureaucracy, scholars have tended to view the political system in a manner which reinforces demarcations between policy and administration (Joensuu and Niiranen 2016:23). However, this simplified theoretical illustration has led to a ‘top down’ approach to public institutions, whereby the role of the administrator is perceived as carrying out policy as formulated by decision makers. This approach affords little attention to the role of front line staff and service users as well as how they negotiate in the creation of policy implementation (Durose 2011:979).

However, this perception has been challenged with the proliferation of ‘bottom up’ approaches of bureaucratic organisations, such as Lipsky’s seminal work on the dilemmas of street level bureaucrats operating within public organisations. Street level bureaucrats are those who “interact directly with citizens in the course of their jobs, and who have substantial discretion in the execution of their work” (Lipsky, 1980:3). The role of discretion is particularly important in understanding the ways street level bureaucrats become policy makers in their own right and navigate the pressures of operating on the front line, including the conflict between meeting the needs of clients while operating efficiently and effectively (Collin and Grott, 2018:10). Other crucial strategies street level bureaucrats employ to navigate these tensions also include “modifying goals, rationing their services, redefining or limiting the clientele to be served,

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asserting priorities and generally developing practices that permit them to process the work they are required to do in some way” (Lipsky, 1976, p. 207). Consequently, this distinction between “policy as political input and implementation as administrative outcome becomes blurred” (Durose 2011:980).

Through Lipsky’s ethnography of the state it is clear that state institutions have different goals, values and occasionally even work at cross purposes (Leser and Dölemeyer 2017:21). In order to understand the ways in which public organisations operate, it is therefore necessary to approach bureaucratic institutions through a similar ethnographic lens. Therefore, this thesis proposes to combine Goffman’s ethnographic approach to public interaction with Lipsky’s ethnography of the state. Adopting this lens allows for an examination of institutional practices not merely as matters of implementation, but as an extrinsic part of the production of government action (Leser and Dölemeyer 2017:22). In fact, “policy making does not simply end once a policy is set out” (Lipsky, 1980: x), but rather, is better understood “in the crowded offices and daily encounters of street-level workers” (Lipsky,1980:xii). Consequently, the practice of street level bureaucrats is regarded not only as implementing policies and legislations, but as producing governmental action in the first instance, as “the decisions of street level bureaucrats, the routines they establish, and the devices they invent to cope with uncertainties and work pressures, effectively become the public policies they carry out” (Lipsky, 1980:xii) Therefore, as mentioned in the introduction, public policy remains an abstraction until the moment it is carried out and experienced. This provides a strong rationale for a bottom up approach to studying public organisations (Zacka, 2017: 16). Thus, viewing the state or public organisations as an assemblage rather than monolithic opens up the possibility for enquiring into the role of emotions in modern day bureaucracies. (Guy et al. 2010). Emotions play a significant role in this, as they cut through a triadic relationship between people, public policies and state institutions (Leser and Dölemeyer 2017: 21).

Although Lipsky’s model focuses largely on the role of street level bureaucrats in governmental agencies that provide public services, his model can certainly be extended and applied more

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broadly. The practitioners this thesis examines, from top level politicians, to policy makers to front line practitioners can also be viewed as mediators between citizens and the state, as in Lipsky’s conceptualisation (see Lipsky, 1980:4). While extensive scholarly attention has been paid to street level bureaucrats who interact with citizens (see Lipsky, 1980), far less attention has been paid to the dilemmas of policy makers. As demonstrated, a defining feature of public bureaucracies is the inherent tension between the autonomy of officials and the overarching hierarchy that controls organisational processes (Swinkels and Meijl, 2018:62). While most research on the dilemmas of civil servants tend to focus on street level bureaucrats and the decisions they make through the implementation of policy, less is known about the dilemmas and decisions policy makers face when confronted with bureaucratic procedures and processes. Therefore, in this thesis, attention is given to the perceptions, actions and reflections of a range of civil servants at multiple organisations levels, consequently humanising public service bureaucracy to further develop an appreciation of how these very perceptions, actions and reflections are constituted through their interaction with members of the public. In addition to the various dilemmas Lipsky highlights, traditional bureaucratic administration emphasises conventional notions of professionalism “characterised by emotional detachment and professional power over the client” (Gittell and Douglass 2012, 716). However, as demonstrated above, studies have shown that emotions in the workplace are not antithetical to professionalism or reasoning, but rather the very expression of professionalism, as on the job emotional regulation requires skill and significant effort (Hochschild 1983). It is this puzzle or tension that this thesis explores further, in the context of both a bureaucratic and policy oriented agency such as the Amsterdam municipality.

2.5 A Theory of Structuration

At this point, a theoretical understanding of bureaucracy, professionalism, emotions, as well as the ways in which emotions are managed within bureaucrat contexts has been sketched - combining Goffman’s ethnographic approach to human interaction with Lipsky’s ethnography of the state. While theoretically this thesis adopts a bottom up approach and places emphasis on the

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individual within public organisations, it is also necessary to clarify the ways in which individuals within state bureaucracies move back and forth between themselves and the broader social and organization structure which encapsulates their experiences. Thus, the extent to which emotions enter a ‘habitus’, which regulates which emotions are considered legitimate, also plays a significant role in administrative investigations (Collin and Grott, 2018:6). In fact, examining whether emotions are implicit or explicit part of strategies of action, as well as their evaluation, can be ascertained by situating them within broader social structures. While the relationship between individual practitioners and the organisational context within which they operate has been implicitly sketched above, it warrants more explicit attention.

The dialectic of structure and agency has long garnered attention in the minds of social theorists (Morrison 2005:312). A highly significant and relevant contribution can be found in Giddens’ theory of structuration, whereby structure and agency are conceived as two sides of the same coin rather than opposing phenomena. In Gidden’s conceptualisation of the duality of structure, individuals create and reproduce existing social practices in their everyday lives (Morrison 2005:312). Therefore, while agency is exercised in producing and reproducing systems through interaction, these systems simultaneously limit or impact behaviour (Morrison 2005:312). Ultimately, the social world is constructed through actions carried out by individuals, where the latter is concurrently restrained by the former. While the technical terminology employed indeed differs, the theoretical implications of Giddens’ structuration theory resemble Bourdieu’s theory of practice, which similarly emphasises the inseparability of structure and subjectivity and the embodied nature of practice (Mcdonough, 2006:360). Bourdieu’s habitus, conceived as principles of the generation and structuring of practices and representations, equips agents with the ability to classify and relate to both familiar and unfamiliar situations (Morrison 2005:313). Bourdieu’s conception of habitus allows for an examination of the relationship between public organisations and the narratives of practitioners, which in this case, are reflective of a ‘public service habitus’, defined as a “socially constituted set of dispositions representing the internalization of a dominant vision of the universal that privileges the public good” (Mcdonough, 2006:360). Through daily practices, including interactions with citizens, local

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government officials embody and reproduce the habitus to varying degrees, with competing discourses of professionalism, appropriateness and public service. Therefore, alongside the aforementioned ethnographic approaches to public interactions and the state, Gidden’s structuration theory and Bourdieu’s concept of habitus also helps capture the dialectic between structure and agency relevant in a study of public officials’ emotional management in bureaucratic contexts. In addition, given that the habitus functions as a means through which “agents perceive and appreciate and thus, act in the social world”, it also consists of a strategic system of dispositions and schemas (Mcdonough, 2006:633). In this study, these schemas or methods of categorisation will be analytically referred to as framing processes or ‘frames’.

2.6 ‘What’s In A Frame’?

It has now been established that socio-cultural processes of meaning production are significant factors in triggering and regulating emotions (Verhoeven and Duyvendak 2015:4). This meaning production is not self-evident however. Therefore, in addition to the three theoretical developments sketched, this thesis also draws on framing theory to analyse the aforementioned schemas or methods of categorisations practitioners employ to organise their emotional encounters with the public. Frames can be defined as schemas of interpretation that “bound reality, direct attention, organise experience, and suggest underlying logics with which to make sense of the world” (Noy, 2009:223. The concept of framing has considerable currency in the social sciences, and has been extensively applied particularly in the study of social movements and collection action (Benford and Snow, 2000:612). The concept of frames have also been applied to the field of policy analysis, which emphasises the role of language in giving meaning to policy initiatives, and consequently creating a public discourse which serves to legitimate or problematise certain policy issues (Fischer and Forester 1993; Hajer and Wagenaar 2003). Certain aspects of these approaches to framing theory are especially relevant in examining how practitioners make sense of their interactions with the public, particularly, the function of frames to condense relevant aspects of the world at large (Benford and Snow, 2000:613). It has been acknowledged by scholars, however, that although emotions play an integral role in policy

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making and implementation processes, they have been paid less attention in framing literature (Verhoeven and Duyvendak, 2015). Although interpretive policy analysis emphasises processes of meaning and knowledge production, the importance of lived experience and agency (Hajer and Wagenaar 2003), the focus has tended to be on discourse and argumentation, rather than affect.

Therefore, this thesis draws on frame analysis to address not only the cognitive schemata of interpretation practitioners employ, but the ways in which emotions enter into meaning production and policy making practices, as well as to ascertain the ‘framing’ and ‘feeling’ rules practitioners subscribe whereby practitioners interpret and construct their feelings. In fact, framing functions not only as a way to represent knowledge, but more importantly, as “interpretive schemas that bound and order a chaotic situation, facilitate interpretation and provide a guide for doing and actions” (Laws and Rein, 2003:173). It is this conception of frames this thesis employs, particularly the ways in which frames facilitate interpretation, meaning production and action. It follows then, that the way in which a conflict is discursively framed has consequences for the way in which it is approached. Practitioners in this study must, often, analyse ambiguous and emotional situations and consequently determine how to respond, and are thus preoccupied with the quest for order and control (Hajer and Laws in Moran et al, 2006:252). A frame analysis allows not only for an exploration of the multiple, and occasionally competing, ways in which practitioners frame and consequently respond within emotionally infused interactions, but also given their quest for order and control, helps sheds light on positioning and power relations in these exchanges. In other words, frames direct attention to what is given salience within an interaction, and help emphasise relational aspects and the consequences of this for emotional regulation. In this regard, positioning is an integral concept in framing. Positioning is defined is a constantly negotiable definition of the self ( _{Davies and Harré, 1990). Therefore,} the position an individual takes is conceived as dynamic, whereby power and parity play an integral role. It should be noted however, that the dynamic concept of positioning is not reducible to adopting a frame, however, a frame may indeed come along with a particular position_{(Davies and Harré, 1990:54).}

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2.7 Towards a Research Design

This chapter has outlined various theoretical developments and concepts relevant for this study, namely the a reformulation of the Weberian ‘ideal type’ of bureaucracies and its associated characteristics, the _{increasingly critical approach scholars have adopted in examining the} psychological costs of controlling emotions in organisations, and the emphasis of the individual within public services, moving away from a false dichotomy of structure and agency, rather integrating the two as symbiotic facets of a single phenomena. Building upon these theoretical insights, including a focus on discourse and framing, this study approaches the analysis of the role emotion plays in practitioner’s interactions with the public in an interpretative tradition. In other words, this study emphasises the role of emotions in meaning production and sense making within framing processes, stories and metaphors. Accordingly, this thesis posits an intimate, qualitative methodology appropriate for the demands of emotion research, providing contextualized descriptions through stories and narratives, which is indeed an underutilized approach to the study of public organizations (Fineman and Sturdy, 1999:660).

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3. Making Sense of Emotional Labour in Practice

In studying the role of emotions in public organisations, researchers have adopted a number of methodological approaches. While some researchers have tended to focus on individual-oriented approaches, stressing the influence of unconscious dynamics on emotional experience, others have adopted a more social-constructionist standpoint (e.g. Hochschild, 1983). As outlined in the preceding chapter, it is the latter methodological approach that this study employs. Thus, the three theoretical developments outlined in the preceding chapter contribute to the formulation of a methodological approach which not only allows for a ‘bottom-up’ exploration and emphasis of the individual within bureaucratic organizations (see Lipsky, 1980) but in addition, the relationship between the individual and the organization (see Giddens, 1984), how emotional labour is performed by these individuals (see Hochschild 1983) and the frames practitioners consequently articulate to make sense of what is going (Goffman, 1974).

The methodological approach selected in managing and analysing data in an empirical study is intimately related to the aims and objectives of the study itself (Green and Thorogood, 2004:176). Given that the aims and objectives of this research are to understand the ways in which practitioners make sense of emotional interactions with the public, this thesis adopts an interpretive research methodology. The data needed to address the research question included qualitative data on practitioners' professional roles, including the formal and informal norms that define their practice, the tensions or dilemmas practitioners face in their work, the types of engagement practitioners undertake, the kinds of public practitioners interact with, and the coping mechanisms practitioners employ. In terms of the specific methods employed to generate and analyse the data, these included qualitative data collection methods such as narrative and semi-structured interviews, and a narrative analysis. The justification for this lies in the fact that qualitative data provides crucial insights into social and cultural characteristics, that might otherwise not be identified by quantitative methods (Tracy, 2013). Particularly in these times of Covid-related social distancing, it is increasingly important to listen to the experiences of individuals, which a qualitative approach to research certainly allows for. While this research is

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primarily concerned with public officials, the context in which public officials operate is of course also interesting and relevant, and therefore the setting of the research conducted is situated within the institutionalised setting practitioners inhabit. With this in mind, the methodological approach adopted was geared towards generating insights into practitioner’s meaning making, and simultaneously cultivating an understanding of the contextual conditions of social action.

Given the often tacit and intuitive nature of emotions, concretely describing emotional situations and their resolution becomes difficult (Verloo, 2015: 279). Through storytelling, however, it becomes possible to ascertain an understanding of the emotional processes at work behind the words in a story. Therefore, the benefit of employing narrative or story based research lies in its ability to highlight individual actions and motives, in addition to bringing institutions to life (Durose 2011:983). Thus, the stories shared by practitioners functioned both as a means to capture details as well as overarching themes and patterns. In fact, narratives also have the ability to express general cultural themes and values at large (Mishler, 1996: 106). While story-based research is complex, ambiguous, selective and subjective, it nevertheless allows for an investigation of how the everyday practice of local government practitioners is constituted (Durose 2011:983). Such a narrative approach also seeks to “engage a variety of speech acts, repertoires of participation, stories and emotions”, and consequently enables a concrete discussion of emotion, without turning them into abstractions (Verloo, 2015: 280). Therefore, a narrative centred methodological approach further permits an insight into interests, judgements, and positions, whereby emotions both trigger practitioners into interactions with the public, and consequently, guide their decision making.

3.1 Data collection

The primary data collection methods in this thesis were desk research, followed by in-depth narrative and semi structured interviews with participants. Given the emphasis placed on the language of the practitioner, desk research was necessary to not only inform the theoretical framework, but to better understand methods such as narrative analysis. Participants were then

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purposefully identified and selected in order to best address the research question proposed. In terms of gaining access to the field, it was first necessary to secure permission to investigate participants and their practice (Creswell, 2009:178). Given that the practitioners work in local government, it was necessary to gain the approval of certain gatekeepers, including policy makers, as approval was needed for front line staff such as client managers to participate in interviews. While this process was time consuming and hinged on the cooperation of senior policy makers, it was a necessary step in ensuring both the legitimacy and ethics of the research. The initial front line practitioners in this research were identified through contact with a senior policy advisor, who reached out to client managers on my behalf. From there, participants snowballed based on suggestions from respondents. In terms of the politicians, all 45 councillors in the Amsterdam City Council were personally emailed regarding their participation, of which 5 responded with agreement. The final composition of the participants were as follows: 6 front line practitioners, 6 politicians and 5 policy makers. In addition to occupational variation between groups, there was also variation within the occupational groups. For example, politicians from parties such as from D66, GroenLinks, Bij1 among others were interviewed. The policy makers interviewed work on various topics, including democratisation, integration, social affairs and human resources. The front line practitioners interviewed were mainly case managers, however they focus on different elements such as job hunting and language instruction. In total 17 participants contributed to the research, which is deemed to be more than sufficient if the goal of the research is to describe shared perceptions, beliefs or behaviours (Guest et al., 2006:76). For a detailed overview of the participants interviewed, please see Annex I.

Interviews were conducted in several rounds between March 24th and May 14th, which was a conscious decision to allow time for a preliminary analysis of the data in the interim and refinement in terms of the research conducted (Maxwell, 2012). _{The interview questions focused} on the nature of the practitioner’s work, their relationships with the public and co-workers, the challenges they faced. _{Each practitioner interviewed detailed their particular roles and} responsibilities, the issues they encounter through their work, their responses, examples of policy areas or projects worked on and their perspective on the public sector as a whole. In most

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instances, practitioners responded in the form of stories or narratives which served as the basis of this study. _{In terms of the setting of the research, initially, this was to be conducted in the work} context of practitioners themselves. However, due to limitations imposed by Covid-19, field work was conducted entirely digitally_{via Zoom or Skype in order to adapt to the new research} environment. However, this limitation did not impact on the ability to improvise and adapt both during and following the interviews based on the digital interactions that took place. Permission to record the interviews was granted in all cases.

The justification for conducting both narrative and semi-structured interviews is that it allowed participants to respond more freely (Cohen & Crabtree, 2006). In addition, by limiting the interview structure, opportunities for participants to genuinely reveal their perspectives were enhanced and particular aspects of participants' social world surfaced in previously unanticipated ways (Bryman, 2012:403). Therefore, a less structured approach offered additional flexibility to the research, which is particularly relevant given the impact on the current research environment. The choice of conducting qualitative interviews, in addition to allowing the perspectives of participants to guide the research, was also helpful in providing valuable information as participants could not be directly observed. While initially, the thesis aimed at generating an understanding of the intersubjective practices of officials through an observer's perspective (Harrits, 2011, p. 160), this was impossible to achieve due to the research limitations imposed by Covid-19. Therefore, information on practice was obtained directly from the experiences of practitioners themselves as they relayed it to me, compensating for an inability to conduct participant observation. Although, it must be noted that there are a number of limitations typically associated with interviewing, such as information or data being ‘filtered’ through the views of interviewees (Creswell, 2009:179). However, given the purpose of this study, this ‘filter’ is viewed as desirable and appropriate given the aim of the research.

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3.2 Data analysis

Following on from data collection, _{the next step was to prepare and organise the data. First, the} audio recordings conducted through fieldwork were transcribed, which allowed not only for a close reading of the material, but a deeper reflection on practitioner’s accounts. These transcripts are on file with the author. Following this, the data was consulted in order to develop a general sense of the information and to reflect on ideas, tones and meanings (Creswell, 2009:185). Initially, a more general coding took place, however as more interviews were conducted a more systematic approach was taken. _{A content analysis was conducted in order to identify common} and consistent themes within the data (Mayring, 2000). During this content analysis, I familiarized myself with the data and a broader picture emerged, from which sub-categories were consequently identified and organised (Morse & Field 1996, p.117). _{This interpretative method} was deemed appropriate as salience was given to the experiences and meaning making of the participants.

Much like the work of the practitioners themselves, the process of data analysis was a process of sense making, which involved preparing, iteratively analysing, representing and finally interpreting the broader implications of the data (Creswell, 2009:183). This ongoing, iterative process required continuous reflection, which was primarily achieved by asking analytic questions and through the writing of the analysis itself. In analysing practitioners' narratives, close attention was paid to the specific details given salience across stories, how respondents positioned themselves and the language they used to draw relationships and describe emotions. In doing so, three key frames emerged based on these practitioner accounts. While there was certainly a level of overlap between the frames and they are slightly more rounded, in articulating and analysing the frames, I sharpened them for distinction and analytic leverage. Given that similar stories were told across practitioner groups, from politicians to policy makers to frontline practitioners, these stories were varied and structured across frames rather than professional positions.

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3.3 Validity

In qualitative research, the term validity does not carry the same connotations as in quantitative research, nor does it equate to reliability or generalizability (Creswell, 2009:190). In the case of the research conducted in this study, validity refers to accuracy in capturing and presenting the research findings, and reliability rests upon consistency in the approach adopted. Thus, validity was achieved by using similar wording in research questions, conducting a close reading of transcripts, frequently comparing the data with the codes discerned, as well as being transparent with the data by clearly differentiating between the voice of participants and the voice of the researcher. The reliability of the thesis was achieved by adopting a uniform approach in analysing the data and consolidating the frames.

Given the more subjective nature of the data itself and methods of analysis, reliability and validity in qualitative research is more difficult to achieve as the subjectivities of not only the participants but the researcher plays an active role in the research. Therefore, close attention to detail was given in order to ensure validity in this research, from consistently overviewing the transcripts to establishing descriptive codes which are applied uniformly throughout the data analysis. This iterative process provided not only a familiarity with the data itself, but greater validity. Given that the research and analysis is conducted in an interpretivist manner, methods such as thick description, openly presenting the data and peer reviews also improved validity, and allowed the research to be grounded by the empirical data itself, however subjective it may be.

3.4 Ethical Considerations

Given that the practitioners studied operate within local government and frequently come into contact with the public, as well as handling sensitive information, it was also necessary to address ethical issues as they arose in the research (Creswell, 2009:178). In this research, ethical concerns such as the issue of confidentiality were addressed by masking the names of the practitioners studied, in order to ensure anonymity and focus attention on the stories practitioners

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shared, rather than on the practitioners themselves. In addition to assuring complete anonymity, trust was built with respondents by being explicit and open about the purpose, intentions and outcomes of the research from the outset, as well as establishing clear verbal contracts and roles. Therefore, trust was built with respondents from the outset and was continuously gauged throughout the research process.

3.5 Reflexivity

In qualitative research, the role of the researcher must also be taken into account, as the researcher’s position has the ability to influence the outcome of the research. While it is impossible and perhaps even undesirable to fully remove the researcher from the research, acknowledging the perceptions and biases of the researcher is also necessary in improving validity. In order to ensure as much reflexivity as possible in the research design, it was necessary to take into account both the influence of the social setting of the research itself, as well as an awareness of the wider social context (Green and Thorogood, 2004:195). In terms of the wider social context, there were indeed a number of limitations in the research, not least due to limitations imposed by Covid-19. In addition, given the public facing role of the practitioners, as well as their position as representatives of local government, political and social values have both enabled the research, and constrained it. While the practitioners were willing to contribute to this research and even stressed the importance of government contributing to academia, it must be acknowledged that, in view of the sensitivity of public officials' work, a number of sensitive details had to be omitted from the analysis. It must also be acknowledged that the data produced is a result of interactions between the researcher and the participants. Thus, reflexivity required a constant awareness of how this interaction influenced the data. This jointly constructed discourse, by both the interviewer and interviewee, emphasised the emergence of meaning through interaction (Mishler, 1996: 35). In addition, it was not feasible, nor desirable, to achieve uniformity across interviews in this study, as variation became an object of inquiry in itself (Mishler, 1996: 52).

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When questioned on the challenges faced in their work, practitioners frequently responded by rephrasing the question, such as asking “challenges for me personally, or for the policy itself?”. Therefore, the interviewees also played a significant role in reformulating questions and engaging in the research conversation. Consequently, an analysis and interpretation of these interviews as jointly constructed discourse fit into the theoretical approach outlined in the preceding chapter, with an emphasis on meaning making through framing and discourse. Therefore, the discursive nature of interviews is highlighted and acknowledged rather than obscured or suppressed (Mishler, 1996:66). The critical task for the analysis of such data then became making explicit the theoretical basis of interpretation, which in this case, was a close analysis of storytelling informed by interactionist and performative theoretical approaches, which was captured and formulated into frames.

In addition, adopting a narrative approach moved the research away from boundaries set by a more traditional approach (Mishler, 1996:67) as the interviewee took on the role of a narrator, including setting the scene, introducing events, characters and their actions, as well as their relationship. The role of the interviewer in co-producing their story was twofold - to allow participants to elaborate on their stories without disruption, and to serve as an ‘audience’ the participant presents themselves to (Mishler, 1996:74). The fact that stories appeared frequently in conversations upholds the theoretical assumption that narratives are one of “the natural cognitive and linguistic forms through which individuals attempt to order, organize, and express meaning” (Mishler, 1996:106).

Consequently, a qualitative methodological approach including storytelling fits neatly with the previously proposed theoretical framework, particularly the role and significance of frames, which similarly function to order, organise and express meaning. In the following chapter, a detailed narrative analysis will be presented based on the theoretical framework and methodological approach outlined. This will ultimately reveal how practitioners make sense of their emotional encounters with the public, and consequently, how they manage the emotions raised by their work.

Coping with an Emotional Public: A Study of Emotional Governance in the City of Amsterdam